Strategy

“Do not play quick picks,” he said. “You have to learn what numbers to play, and how often to play them.”

Good advice, Richard, but exactly how do you learn what Mega Millions numbers to play, now?

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Apps

Search “lottery” and you’ll find almost 750 iPhone apps available on iTunes. There are games, books, results and schedulers, but there are also those that promise to help you pick the winning numbers.

“This app is designed by a group of professionals in fields of mathematical analysis, probability theory, statistics and applied IT,” the makers of Hottest Lottery Estimator for iPhone promise.

All that for just $1.99?

Websites

At Smartluck.com, Gail Howard shares with you the same information she gave 106 other jackpot winners.

There are three important tips to winning, Howard writes, including game selection, number selection and employing the Lotto Balanced Wheel.

“These lottery systems allow you to choose a large group of lotto numbers which are placed in a scientifically determined lotto pattern on your bet slips to give you a specific win guarantee,” Howard writes.

Software

Sidney Brown guarantees you’ll win, and if you don’t, he’ll give you $100 — as long as you purchase Win Lotto Systems Premium.

“If you rely only on luck to win the lottery then you are at the hands of fate having no control over your odds of winning,” he writes on his website.

Divine intervention

Psychic Rose Nicholas told WSET-TV in Virginia she’s helped people win $3 million, and she has won $150,000 playing bingo.

She was surprisingly tight-lipped about strategies, however, saying only, “It’s a big chance. It’s a big chance.”

Uh, OK, cut to commercial please.

Friday’s Mega Millions draw is actually estimated at $476 million, incidentally, and your odds of winning are one in 176 million, with tickets sold in 42 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. Virgin Islands.

Should you defy the odds, you have the option of a 26-year annuity, which would pay $38,500 for every $1 million – or $18.3 million annually. Lump sum payouts vary by state.